Aims and Scope

Aims
MILLATI: Journal of Islamic Studies and Humanities is a peer-reviewed journal dedicated to the study of Islamic intellectual traditions, local knowledge, and socio-cultural transformation in Southeast Asia, with a particular focus on Indonesia and the region's diverse cultural and religious contexts. The journal examines how Islamic texts, ideas, institutions, and practices are interpreted, transmitted, negotiated, and transformed across historical and contemporary settings.

MILLATI seeks to advance interdisciplinary scholarship that brings Islamic intellectual history and textual traditions into dialogue with the social, cultural, political, and ethical realities of Muslim communities. It welcomes research that contributes to broader debates in Islamic studies and the humanities by situating local experiences within wider historical, comparative, and theoretical frameworks. In particular, MILLATI aims to position local research within a wider transregional conversation about Islam, knowledge, culture, and socio-cultural transformation.

Scope
MILLATI welcomes original research articles that make substantive contributions to the study of Islamic intellectual traditions, local knowledge, and socio-cultural transformation. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

1. Islamic Intellectual Traditions and Textual Studies
Research on Qur'anic interpretation, Hadith studies, Islamic theology, philosophy, Sufism, intellectual history, Islamic ethics, and the historical development of Islamic thought. This area includes manuscript studies, textual transmission, hermeneutics, and the reception and reinterpretation of Islamic scholarly traditions.

2. Local Knowledge and Lived Islam
Studies of religious practices, local Islamic traditions, religious authority, pesantren and dayah traditions, popular piety, religious movements, sacred places, cultural heritage, and the interaction between Islam and indigenous or local cultures.

3. Islam, Religious Diversity, and Socio-Cultural Transformation
Research on religious diversity, interfaith relations, religious moderation, Muslim minorities, gender and family relations, social inclusion, migration, generational change, and the transformation of religious identities and practices in changing societies.

4. Islam, Public Life, and Contemporary Ethical Questions
Studies examining the relationships between Islamic traditions and contemporary social, political, economic, technological, ecological, and ethical issues. Topics may include religious authority in digital environments, public ethics, social justice, Islamic philanthropy, environmental ethics, and bioethics, provided that the research makes a substantive contribution to Islamic studies and the humanities.

5. Southeast Asian and Interdisciplinary Approaches
Historical and contemporary studies of Islam and Muslim societies across Southeast Asia, including Indonesia and its diverse cultural settings, as well as comparative research involving Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam, Timor-Leste, and other relevant contexts. The journal also welcomes historically grounded, anthropological, sociological, ethnographic, and other interdisciplinary approaches that deepen our understanding of Islamic intellectual traditions and lived religious realities.

Editorial Priorities

MILLATI particularly encourages research that:

  1. Establishes a clear research gap and makes an original scholarly contribution.
  2. Connects Islamic intellectual traditions, local knowledge or lived Islamic practices with broader historical, cultural, or socio-political questions.
  3. Engages critically with relevant international scholarship.
  4. Employs rigorous and transparent methods appropriate to the research question.
  5. Explains the significance of their findings beyond a single case study or locality.

The journal welcomes contributions from scholars worldwide. Research on regions beyond Southeast Asia is also considered when it offers a compelling comparative perspective or makes a substantial contribution to the study of Islamic intellectual traditions and their historical or contemporary social contexts.